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SALT LAKE CITY — As part of a new pilot program at the University of Utah, a campus police officer will soon be stationed at the largest resident hall on campus. The school said the program aims to keep students safe and strengthen relationships with students and law enforcement.
Starting in September, a "residence life resource officer" will be stationed at Kahlert Village, which houses 1,400 students — most of whom are freshmen.
The move comes five years after U. student Lauren McCluskey was killed. The school says the pilot program isn't necessarily a response to that but rather an increased effort to keep students safe.
Sean Grube, associate vice president of housing and residential education, says the school is basing the program on what has been successful at other campuses across the country. The officer will be a police officer who works for the University of Utah Police Department.
"It's really meant to be a bridge and an access point for students," Grube said. "So, to be you know, (a) non-patrol individual to provide support to students to really just be a mechanism for them to form a positive relationship with the police department but also with safety on campus."
The school says this officer isn't there to be busting students for small things but more a person in a position of trust who is there to help and keep them safe.
Students on campus had mixed responses to the program. Caroline and Sienna are university students who spoke with KSL-TV on condition that their last names be omitted for their protection and privacy. Caroline isn't optimistic the program will make a difference.
"Truthfully, I have a lot of doubts for how successful it's going to be," Caroline said. This is her fourth year here at the U. "I think in general I don't really trust the campus police."
Her opinions come from what she calls "word on campus" that they can't be trusted, along with a personal experience she felt was "dismissed" when reported.
Capt. Jason Hinojosa, with campus police, said part of creating the new position is to change that sentiment.
"Their primary function is not patrol or enforcement," Hinojosa said. And that's why, he said, it's critical he hires the right person for the job, someone with excellent "policing" skills but with other skills too.
"We want somebody who understands trauma-informed, victim-centered views, should that need arise," Hinojosa said.
Sienna said she lived on campus as a freshman.
"I think it's great that people have a resource that they can physically talk to instead of emailing HR," she said.
Sienna said it would be important for the university to introduce the officer to students at orientation, something Hinojosa says is part of the department's plan.
"I think if the (resident adviser) introduced them to the kids, and it was like kind of a one-on-one thing and you got to know them before the semester even started, I think it would make a closer relationship and build trust with that person," Sienna said.
Hinojosa says that an "introduction" is part of the plan. He hopes to have the officer in position no later than September.
